Underestimated
by Aris1013
Summary: What starts out as a noise complaint, turns into a hostage situation for Bridge and Sky. Can they be saved before time runs out? Or will the maniac keeping them finish them off once and for all?
1. Taken

Everyone in the Command Center was pretty bored. They had not received many alerts in the past few days, so when two small alerts bleeped on the computer they all perked up from what they were doing. The excitement turned to disappointment when they saw what the alerts were for.

"Okay, traffic jam in Sector 2 and a noise complaint in Sector 8." The enthusiasm was lacking in Jack's voice.

"Come on, any job no matter how small is important." Sky tried to pep the team up a little.

"You're right, so you won't mind checking out the noise complaint then." Jack smiled at him.

Sky rolled his eyes and groaned. "Whatever."

"Bridge why don't you go with him, and the rest of us will go direct the traffic."

Bridge smiled and nodded and Jack. "Okay, let's go!"

Bridge was already out of the Command Center before Sky could say anything else. He just sighed and followed his friend out of the building. Once they got to the building they entered with caution. The place was an old office building that had not been used in a while, and at the moment it seemed empty. There were stairs near the door, so the two decided to go up and check the place out better.

"Bridge, what do you notice about this place?" Sky was keeping his eyes out.

"It's silent…maybe whoever was making so much noise, left?" Bridge was beginning to get a bad feeling.

"Or maybe there wasn't any noise to begin with."

Bridge decided it was time to scan the area; he took off his glove and waved his hand in front of himself. His whole body tensed after what he saw, but before he could warn Sky, a bunch of men come out of the office doors and attacked them. Bridge had no time to fight before a needle was plunged into his neck, causing him to falter back and then fall to the ground.

"Bridge!" Sky began to fight his way to the Green Ranger, but someone came from behind and hit him in the back of the head with the end of their laser. Sky too fell to the ground and watched the men gather Bridge up and take him away before blacking out.

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Jack, Syd, and Z were finishing up with directing traffic when Crueger came over the radio.

" _You are needed back at S.P.D. please report at once._ "

"We're on our way." Jack radioed back, and the rangers rushed back to the base to find out what was going on.

Once in the Command Center, Commander Crueger stood in front of them. "Rangers, we have a hostage situation taking place in Sector 8."

Jack perked up when he heard where the hostage situation was taking place. He knew something was not right. "Sir, I sent Sky and Bridge to Sector 8 to check out a noise complaint."

"Yes, I fear our fellow rangers were set up." He motioned to the security camera footage of the area. "Earlier today a large group of people went into that building, and a few hours later Sky and Bridge went inside. Not long after that eight men began taking civilians off the street. This is a delicate situation and these criminals have not made contact yet. You must go and try to find out what these people want while making sure all the hostages make it out safe. Good luck Rangers."

The rangers were worried, but saluted and got ready to try and handle the situation stirring up before them.

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When Sky woke up he found himself tied tightly to a metal chair in an almost empty room. Three guards stood by the door facing him. The only light was coming from the boarded up window to his side. The guard's grips tightened on their lasers when he woke up, making Sky think they might know about their abilities.

"Where's my partner?"

The men said nothing.

Sky tugged on the ropes binding him. "I saw them inject him with something, but not me. What'd they give him?"

Still silence.

Sky growled in anger. "I want answers!"

The guards stepped aside as a taller man came into the room. He had short brown hair and a nice suit. "I see you're finding your quarters quite comfortable. Now what's all this fuss about?"

"My friend, what'd you do with him?"

The man smiled and clapped his hand together. "You didn't think we would keep you two together did you? No, that's not how this works. On this end of the building we get to beat you for information, although you don't seem like the type to respond to that. Still might be fun though…As for your friend, we gave him something to slowly kill him. He might talk, you might talk, or maybe neither of you will, but then we'll get to kill two rangers and five people off the streets, so no matter the outcome it's looking up."

"What are you after?" Sky worried about how much time Bridge had.

"Weapons, codes, anything really. Personally I think Bridge? Is more likely to talk, considering those abilities of his." The man noticed the curious look in Sky's eyes. "That's right, I know about you two, and the others as well, but that one, he's an interesting type isn't he? Has to wear gloves to keep things out, right? So without those, on top of what we have coursing through his system, well that should just right down confuse him enough to start babbling I think."

The man walked up to Sky and knelt down in front of him. "And then there's you. Sky, the shield maker. Sounds so valiant doesn't it? You're the strong one, hence the extra security and the ropes. You care too much about the people around you, so on the Green Ranger's impending doom, you may just tell us anything to get him the antidote. That's you're light at the end of the tunnel."

Sky glared. "You can't get either of us to talk, we'd both rather die than help out a scumbag like you."

"Oooohhhh I can tell you're going to be a fun time." He snapped his fingers and got up as two of the guards came over and began beating Sky.

Sky shut his eyes and took every punch without making much noise. They would get through this, he knew they would.

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When Bridge woke up, he knew something was wrong. He was sweating, and his breath was coming in shorter than normal. His gloves were gone, so the walls he built in his mind were being pounded on, but he still had control. This was something different. He looked around the room; there was not much besides some old office junk. A broken shelf, various papers, and two mostly boarded up windows. He looked out to see he was several floors up, so that escape route would not work. Bridge stumbled to walk away from the wall, he remembered a sharp pain in his neck before passing out. Those men must have given him something. Bridge shuffled to the door and waved his hand in front of it, scanning for energy. There were guards posted outside. Once he got to the door, he was not surprised to find it locked, but he decided to pound on it and get the guards' attention.

"Hey! Let me out of here!" He shook the door knob.

He continued to pound until the door swung open, almost hitting him. A guard came in and hit Bridge in the face with the end of his laser, causing him to fall to the ground. When his eyes focused he saw the guards holding a scared woman by the arm. They shoved her into the room.

"Keep him alive."

"Wait! What's wrong with him?" The guards had shut the door without answering.

Bridge realized in that moment, the woman had a leather bag in her hand.

"Are you a doctor?"

She nodded and knelt down beside him. "I'm Doctor Jackson, those creeps out there took me a while ago. They wanted access to my research, certain chemicals I was working on. I don't know what they are planning, but it can't be good."

"I'm Bridge. Do you happen to know what they gave me?"

She shook her head. "No, but by looking at you, it seems to be something slow acting and painful. Here." She pulled a bottle of pills out of her bag. "Take these, should help the fever, it would be better to give you something directly, but they took all my syringes away after my last escape attempt."

Bridge took the pills and stood up. "What'd you do?"

Dr. Jackson smiled. "Knocked out two guards with tranquilizers and made a run for it. Other guys caught up to me before I could get too far though."

Bridge smiled and looked through the boards in the window. "I came here with someone, have you seen him?"

Dr. Jackson got up and looked out the other window. "No, it was pretty chaotic a while ago. They just took people off the street. They're holding them downstairs. I didn't see anyone else in uniform, but they are probably keeping him in another room. Probably for the best if they didn't have me see him, means they didn't drug him."

"That doesn't necessarily mean that's better."

"No, but these guys are smart, and they'll want information, probably anything they can get their hands on. They'll use you to get to your friend, and use those people downstairs as leverage for you both and whoever comes after you."

Bridge slid down the wall under the window. "Great, so I'm just a pawn."

"I think we all are." The doctor also plopped herself down near the other window.

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Sky was leaning all the way forward in his chair, blood dripping off of him like a leaky sink. He remained conscious throughout the beating he had received, but almost wished he would have been knocked out. Everything hurt.

"Well that was fun." The man in charge smiled as he leaned down to meet Sky's swollen eyes. "Do you have any information you'd like to share with the class?"

Sky spit blood at the man's feet only to receive a laugh.

"No I didn't think so. We could beat you all day and not get a word out of you. You don't care about that, that's what you were trained for, but there is something that sets you apart from people like me. You care, you have compassion, and that my friend is your weakness. You see I pulled five innocent civilians off the street, and I will have no problem getting rid of them. And let's not forgot your little buddy that came here with you. How long do you think he has before the drugs in his system kill him?"

The man began to pace around the room. "I've got this worked out on three different angles. Either greenie tells me what I want to know to protect you and the hostages, or maybe just out of fevered confusion. Or you tell me to save him and the hostages, or your team tells me to save all of you, but the clock is ticking and no one has much time. Your silence only kills the innocent, think about that."

Before he could go on there was a knock at the door and a guard entered, whispering something in his ear.

"Ah yes." He turned to Sky. "Time is running out, your friends have arrived, so now it's time I had a chat with them, but you think on what I said and remember what will happen if you keep your mouth shut. You could save a lot of people today Blue, either I get my information, or I get to watch the blood flow. It's really a win/win on my end, so you make your choice."

He left Sky alone in the room to try and figure out what his next move was. He knew he had to save everyone, but there was no way he could give out classified information to do it. He needed to work out a plan.

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 **AN: Thanks for reading, I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter!**


	2. Negotiations

**Thank you Adrianna Agray and kelli.n.c for reviewing!**

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Jack, Syd, and Z parked the S.W.A.T vehicle outside of the building where Sky, Bridge, and the other hostages were being held in. They began scanning the area, looking for any signs of trouble outside of the building.

"Anything?" Jack looked at Syd, who was on the computer, but before she could answer their morphers beeped.

Jack looked at his morpher and saw it was Bridge, although he had a feeling it would not be the Green Ranger on the other side.

"Hello?"

"About time you guys showed up, and here I thought I was going to have to send a message."

"Who is this?" Jack looked at Z and Syd in worry.

"That's not important, what you should be asking is what do I want."

Jack huffed, he already hated this guy. "Fine, what do you want?"

"That my friend, all depends on how many lives you want to save today. I want information, codes, weapons, anything really. I'm quite easy to please. I'm sure you already know I took a few people off the street, so that's five right there, plus your two fellow comrades. Let's face it though; those two are worth more than just one measly civilian."

"Let me talk to them so I know they are okay." Jack was hoping Sky and Bridge were not in too much trouble inside.

"They're a little busy at the moment. One is bleeding all over this nice concrete floor, while the other is probably in immense agony from the poison running through his veins. I'll let you guys hash out the details while I mess with your friends more, we'll be in touch soon."

"Wait!" Jack lost the signal before he could say anything else.

Syd and Z shared the same anxious expression. None of them knew what to do.

"He sounds psychotic." Syd could not wrap her head around the man they had just spoken to.

"Yeah, and psychotic is dangerous. He sounds like he's having more fun hurting people than using them as leverage. This could get real ugly real fast." Z just hoped they could figure out a solution before it was too late.

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Bridge's breathing was still coming in short spurts, but his fever had not gone up. It was taking everything he had just to stay in control of his powers.

Dr. Jackson could see his struggle. "They said something about your team having abilities? I've never heard of that before."

Bridge laughed a little. "You'd think in a world full of aliens, a few people with powers wouldn't be strange, but we're always seen as freaks."

"I didn't mean any offense by it. I just didn't know that was possible."

"No, I'm sorry, I think the pain is making me cranky. Yeah, we all can do something different. Our parents all used to work at S.P.D. and one day something went wrong and changed their molecular structures causing manipulations in our D.N.A when we were born. It's pretty incredible actually, scary to some people, and well scary to us sometimes…or at least me. You see everyone else can choose when and when not to use them, but mine are a little different. I can't turn them on and off, so I have to do some things to make sure I stay in check." Bridge looked at his bare hands.

"What is it that you can do exactly?" The doctor was intrigued.

"It's complicated, but basically I can read energy fields. I usually wear gloves so I don't have to see like that all the time, but they took those, which means they know about us. Probably been watching for a while."

"So what exactly does that mean?"

Bridge looked at the door. "I see energy. Where people have been, where they are going to be. Like right now I know there are three guards posted outside of that door. One is pacing back and forth down the halls while the other two are firmly planted to the floor."

The doctor looked at the door in wonder. "You really see that?"

Bridge nodded.

"Why would they take your gloves then? Wouldn't they want to stop you from knowing what they will do?"

"Like I said, they've been watching us. Somehow they must know what it takes to control this. Too much energy at once gets muddy, and can make my head go all fuzzy. Having no blocks, mixed with this drug will break down my walls and then, I'm sure, they are hoping I just start babbling about anything and everything. They want to get me to the point where I can tell them anything, but it won't get that far. I won't let it."

"How could you stop that from happening?" Dr. Jackson did not understand.

"I just have to stay in control." He winced in pain, his whole body aching.

"I think that may be easier said than done. I'm not sure if I have anything else that can help you."

"It's okay, that medicine helped a little."

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Sky heard footsteps before the door opened. He looked up to see the man back again, this time holding a morpher in his hands.

"You know I'm growing quite fond of our conversations."

Sky rolled his eyes. "This is only the second time you've come in here."

The man smiled. "That is true, however it feels like we are lifelong friends, doesn't it?"

Sky said nothing.

"Speaking of friends, yours are all here trying to work out what to do now. They know they can't give out information, but they can't see you and the others die. Quite the pickle they are in. Although you could end this all now."

"I want to see Bridge." Sky looked the man in the eyes.

"I don't think you are in any position to make demands, besides Bridge is working very hard to keep his powers in check. He doesn't need any distractions."

The tall man made a lap around Sky's chair, but Sky remained un-phased.

"Your silence bores me. It's only hurting you and the others you know. You could save them by just telling me anything. A few codes, maybe classified information?"

Sky only stared.

"Have it your way." The man opened the door a waved his hand, not even looking back at Sky as the guards came in to have another go.

Sky hoped the beatings were over, but now he knew this may only be the beginning.

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"We can't give him any information. We must find another way into that building to save the hostages and the team." Commander Crueger was talking to the rangers over the computer monitor.

"I don't' think there is a way in, sir. We've scanned the entire building and there are guards posted on every door. If we go in, we'll be noticed leaving everyone at risk." Z did not know what to do.

"What if we give them false information?" Syd thought that could get them in at least.

"If they check it out and find out it's wrong, then everyone in there could get killed." Jack rubbed his temples.

Syd was thinking. "Maybe there is something we can trade them that we could risk getting into the wrong hands. All we need is something good enough to satisfy that psycho, but not anything that could hurt us worse in the long run."

"That may be the best idea we get." Z looked at the Red Ranger.

Jack knew that was risky, but it could work. "Commander, is there any type of weapon, or information we could give these guys to please them, but not have it used against us?"

"Hmm…" Crueger scratched his chin. "We'll have to look into that, for now try to stall him."

"Will do, sir." Jack turned to the others. "We'll figure this out, we have to."

The girls nodded, hoping he was right.

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"Bridge? Bridge!"

Bridge opened the eyes he had not realized he shut. Dr. Jackson was sitting in front of him.

"You need to stay awake, keep talking."

Bridge shook his head trying to stay conscious. "Everything hurts right now."

"I know, but you need to ignore it as much as possible, and just focus on me instead."

"Alright." He looked at the doctor.

"These guys plan out everything. They are going to get what they want, one way or another, so maybe you should just tell them something, anything."

Bridge shook his head. "I can't do that."

"Then everyone here will die, including your friend, and those hostages downstairs. Is that worth it?"

"If they get their hands on the type of weapons they want, then the whole city will be in trouble, not just the people in this building."

"Look I don't want to see these guys get what they want either, but they'll kill you all, and then just attack your base. They will find a way in, believe me the guy in charge is smart and crazy."

Bridge's eyes drooped for a moment. "Won't do any good, big weapons aren't at S.P.D. We keep them in an underground warehouse in Sector 14. Last place anyone would look." Bridge's head snapped back up. "What was I saying?"

The doctor looked around wondering if anyone could hear what he had just said. "Nothing. So you really think the other Power Rangers will be able to find a way in without trading something?"

"I think there's another way out of this." Bridge did not continue that thought, but turned his attention back to Dr. Jackson. "So how long have you been captive?"

The doctor scooted back a little. "A few months. I was working on combustible chemicals when they found me. Took all my research and everything I had created. Now they are making weapons, using my chemicals as fuel."

"Are they working with Gruumm?" Bridge wondered if Gruumm had hired them to do his bidding.

"I haven't heard that name mentioned before. Also the guy in charge doesn't seem like the type to play with others."

"Great, more enemies then."

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Back in the S.W.A.T vehicle Kat was talking with the rangers via live video.

"Boom is brining you a sonic cannon that sends high pitched frequencies in waves. It's big and intimidating looking and will hurt, but will not kill. Hopefully it will be enough for this person to let the hostages go."

"Thanks Kat, we hope so too." Jack nodded at her.

It was not long before Boom got there with the sonic cannon. Once inside the truck, Jack called Bridge's morpher, hoping the man would answer.

"Do you have what I want?"

"We have a weapon, but you have to let everyone go before we give it to you."

The man on the other end laughed. "I don't think you realize who is calling the shots here. This is my game, so this is how it will work. You leave the weapon in front of the door, and once I decide if it is worth anything I may or may not let someone go. That's how this works, you don't get another choice."

"Just do it Jack." Z could not handle this for much longer.

"Fine, we'll do it." He turned off the communicator and took the weapon from Boom. "I'll go drop it off, if anyone looking suspicious comes out, then try and grab them."

"Got it." Syd and Z both nodded.

Jack got out of the truck and walked up to the building, he knew he could be walking into a trap, but kept his guard up the entire time. He sat the cannon down in front of the doors and waited a moment. When nothing happened, he walked back to the truck. Once he was inside again, someone opened the front door and a scared looking woman pulled in the cannon.

Syd was watching through binoculars. "He's making one of the hostages take the sonic cannon. He won't even risk one of his guards coming out here for a second."

Not five minutes later Jack was getting a call from Bridge's morpher again. When Jack answered he did not even get a chance to speak before the man did.

"You think you are clever do you? Giving me a non-lethal weapon. Being a man of my word I will send out one person, but if you think you can pull that kind of stunt again then they will pay for it. And as a little added inspiration I've decided I'm tiring of this little game. You have one hour to get me something worth the lives of the six people left, and don't forget yours are going to cost a little extra. At the end of the hour if I don't have something worth my while, then consider everyone I took today dead." He cut communications before Jack could respond.

"Great, now I don't think we have a choice." Jack turned to Z. "Get Kat back on, we need to find weapons that can do a lot of damage, but something we can take out ourselves."

"Got it."

"Hey guys." Boom pointed to the doors opening again, and the same woman that brought the weapon inside, was being thrown outside.

Syd ran out to grab her and take her by the van. "Boom, do you think you can get her back to S.P.D to get checked out?"

"Uh, yeah of course. I'm on it." Boom grabbed the scared woman by the shoulder and led her away from the building.

"I just had a terrible thought." Z was typing on the computer.

"What is it?" Syd sat back down.

"Even if we give this guy exactly what he wants, I'm not sure he has any intention on letting Bridge and Sky go."

Jack looked on the floor. "I was thinking the same thing. We need to come up with a plan B for if those hostages get set free, but Bridge and Sky don't."

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 **AN: Thank you for reading!**


	3. Not What it Seems

**Thank you Adrianna Agray and kelli n.c for reviewing!**

At this point Sky was barely conscious. So much so he did not even notice the man come into the room this time. He waved the guards away and gave Sky a few gentle slaps to keep his head up.

"Your friends think they are clever. Gave me a minuscule weapon thinking I wouldn't notice. I've given them a time limit to get me something better. Although you could just end this now, save everyone a lot of trouble."

Sky was listening, but his eyes were barely open.

"So you are just okay with having the deaths of so many on your hands? Knowing you could have ended it all?" The man shrugged. "You may just be more heartless than I am."

He walked around the room a little before looking at his watch and turning to Sky again.

"You know I just realized I should probably go talk to the other one. I'm not sure how long until he expires, but I can't imagine it will be much longer."

Sky lunged at the man, but the restraints stopped him.

"Well, is that all it takes to get some passion out of you? Save that energy to decide on if you will talk or let people die. Time is running out, Blue." The man winked and left the room.

Sky growled in frustration. He would be out of time soon, and had no idea what he was planning on doing.

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Bridge had not said anything in a while, instead he was staring at the door focusing on his breathing. A fit of coughing started which made Bridge cover his mouth, and when he pulled it away his hand was covered in blood. He stared at it for a moment before looking at Dr. Jackson. He took a few deep breaths before using the window sill to stand himself up.

"That's it, I'm done playing now."

Before Dr. Jackson could ask Bridge anything, he punched her in the face.

She held her mouth in shock. "What are you doing?"

Bridge grabbed her bag and took a step back. "You see, a lot of people don't understand me. They think I'm crazy because I talk different. I act different. I think my own thoughts, in my own way, but no one understands how I work. I've been reading your energy and your thoughts this entire time, and well, I know everything I can from you."

Dr. Jackson just stared, still trying to wrap her head around what Bridge was saying.

Bridge began to rifle through her bag and pulled out a few vials and syringes. "Like I know that these will knock someone out." He pulled out another syringe. "And this one, is the antidote to what they gave me. The drug you created by the way."

Bridge injected himself and let out a sigh of relief.

"This was very informative though, I don't think I could learn much more from you. I was going to let this go on a little longer, but coughing up blood was the final straw. You were willing to take it all the way."

"I wasn't going to let you die." Her eyes were sympathetic, but Bridge knew better.

Bridge smiled a little. "You see I told you no one understands how I work. I don't interpret things, I know them."

This time Bridge punched her hard enough to knock her out. Now it was time to find Sky, and get him and the other hostages out before it was too late. Bridge went up to the door and knocked on it. The guards fell for that and opened the door. Bridge reacted fast and injected one with the tranquilizer and kicked the other one to keep him away while the first guard fell down unconscious. Bridge was able to inject the next man with the second needle and waited for the one pacing down the hallway to come see what was going on. Bridge waited against the wall, and when the guard came in, he jumped on him from behind and kept him in a choke hold until he passed out.

Even though Bridge had taken the antidote to what they gave him, he was still feeling the effects of it mixed with his abilities. Bridge felt like his lungs would explode if he moved on, but he did not have a choice. He refilled the needles with the tranquilizer and took one of the guard's lasers. He reset it to stun and moved out of the room and down the hall. He could sense Sky's energy, along with all the other people in the building, but getting to Sky was the main priority.

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Sky could not decide what to do. On one side he had a duty to S.P.D to uphold and protect their information, but on the other hand people would die if he did not say anything. Bridge would die. He was trying to figure out if he could falsify anything, but the man that was in charge seemed too smart to fall for anything like that. He then thought about any information that he could sacrifice, something that would appease his captor enough to release everyone. Sky was leaning towards talking when he heard a strange commotion outside of his door. He thought maybe the man had lost it and was finally coming to finish him off, but then the door opened and a guard fell in the room unconscious; there standing behind him, was the Green Ranger.

"Bridge? What are you doing here?"

Bridge stumbled into the room and rushed to the chair Sky was restrained to. "We have to get out of here."

"Are you okay? You don't look okay."

Bridge continued to undo Sky's restraints. "Uh, have you seen yourself yet? You don't look so good either."

"He said you were dying."

Bridge stopped for a second and looked at Sky. "I was dying…well I was dying a few minutes ago, but now I'm not, but I don't know how much longer I can keep going without passing out or getting overloaded, because well I'm sort of just seeing energy only at this point since my gloves are gone. But none of that matters, because right now we have to get out and save the four hostages left before the others give this guy what he wants."

Once Sky's hand was free he started undoing the restraint on his other hand, while Bridge got his feet. "Okay, I think you'll have to fill me in on a lot later, but I thought there were five hostages."

"No, well yes, but he let one go because they gave him a weapon, but it wasn't good enough, but he already told you that." Bridge got the last buckle that was holding Sky.

Sky stared at Bridge in awe for moment wondering how he knew everything he did, but then he hauled himself up and took the laser off of the guard in the room.

"I think you better lead the way, Bridge, you seem to know more of what's going on."

Bridge nodded and led the way out of the room. They went down a few hallways until they got to the stairs. As they started to go down, Bridge stopped and looked around.

"They're looking for us."

Sky listened for any indication of this, but could not hear or see anything. He gave Bridge an odd look, but knew to trust him. "We'd better hurry then."

Once they got to the first floor, they crept down the hallways and towards the front door where the hostages were. Bridge handed Sky one of the syringes and nodded towards the turn at the end of the hall. Sky nodded and the two made their way down until they saw two of the guards. The rangers acted fast and knocked the two out. This caught the attention of the other guards, but before Sky and Bridge could use their blasters, a heavy wave disoriented them, followed by a high pitch noise that knocked them off their feet.

Standing in front of the guards was the man in charge. The one Sky had been dealing with since he was there.

"Hmm, pretty useful little weapon after all." The man smiled and motioned for the guards to collect Bridge and Sky.

Sky pulled himself up using the wall and glared at the men. "My turn."

He made a shield and rushed towards the men, throwing them all to the ground. Bridge used this as his chance to get to the hostages and help corral them outside.

"Come on!" Bridge opened the front door and made sure the four remaining people got out.

Sky knew they were outnumbered if they tried to fight, so while everyone was still on the ground he jumped passed them and met Bridge at the door. Bridge was thinking the same thing and ran outside before they could get caught again. The two helped hold each other up as the exited the building. Sky saw Jack, Syd, and Z already helping the hostages. They rushed over to the two rangers now collapsed on their knees. Sky held up his hand and motioned inside.

"Hurry, they're going to get away."

The others nodded and motioned for the C level cadets to come over to help. Sky realized they must have been called there to assist with the hostages, which meant the rangers were only minutes from giving into the creep that orchestrated everything. The cadets helped Bridge and Sky up and took them to the S.W.A.T truck away from the building. The adrenaline was leaving, and Sky could no longer stand up on his own, so he slid down the side of the vehicle onto the pavement. Before Bridge could do the same he began coughing until he vomited and then slid down next to Sky.

Sky's eyes went wide. "We need a medic over!"

The cadet that helped them nodded. "One is already on its way sir, won't be long now."

Bridge shook his head. "I'll be fine."

"Bridge, do you not see the blood you just threw up?" Sky's worry was growing.

Bridge did not look, but instead closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Antidote takes time to fully kick in, I was really bad off before."

"Bridge you're bad off now."

Bridge scrunched up his face. "I'll be fine, my body is just trying to process all the thoughts and energy of everyone here on top of fighting off this drug." Bridge opened his eyes. "They got away."

Before Sky could say anything, he saw Jack, Syd, and Z exit the building holding a bunch of inmate cards. They came over to check on them.

Z knelt down in front of Bridge and Sky. "You guys don't look good."

"That's what we keep hearing." Sky smiled a bit.

"We couldn't find your morphers, or your gloves Bridge, sorry." Syd gave him a sympathetic look.

"We were only able to get the ones you knocked unconscious, the rest of them must have escaped out the back before we could reach them." Jack was upset that the person responsible was still out there.

"It's okay, as long as the hostages are safe, plus I think I know where they might be going soon, but I'm passing out now so I'll tell you guys later." Bridge's words began to fade out as spoke until his eyes rolled to the back of his head and fell unconscious.

"Bridge?" Sky shook him a little.

The others began to worry, but then the medics arrived and rushed over to Bridge and Sky. They brought two stretchers over and put Bridge on one, and tried to put Sky on the other.

"I don't need a stretcher, I can walk." Sky shooed the medic away.

Jack held up his hand to the medics. "I know you can be stubborn Tate, but believe me you shouldn't be walking anywhere right now. You look like you've been beaten to a pulp, so you are going to do exactly what they want and that is an order."

Sky sighed, but nodded letting the medics help him onto the stretcher. As they hauled Bridge and Sky back to S.P.D, the remaining rangers wondered what had happened.

"They didn't look good." Syd could not take her eyes off of the ambulance as it drove away.

"Yeah, whatever they went through was no picnic." Z shook her head.

"They're both strong, they'll be okay. I just want to know how they got out, a few minutes ago it seemed like that guy had them where they couldn't escape." Jack got into the S.W.A.T truck and the other followed heading back to the base.

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 **AN: Thanks for reading!**


	4. Set Up

**Thank you Adrianna Agray and kelli.n.c for reviewing!**

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Back at the base, the rangers stood before Commander Crueger. They were worried about Sky and Bridge, but had to update Doggie on the situation at hand.

"Sir, we were not able to capture the person that did this, but we do have some of his men." Jack stared straight ahead.

Crueger nodded. "Today was a close call. If your fellow rangers had not found a way out of the situation from the inside, there is no telling what may have happened out there today. While you all did everything in your power to control the situation, the perpetrator is still at large, so we must stay vigilant."

"Sir, Bridge mentioned that he may know where they will be next." Z hoped they would be able to catch this guy.

Doggie scratched his chin. "Good, when he and Sky are awake you need to find out what they know about this man and create a plan of action to catch him."

"How are they?" Syd looked at Kat.

"Dr. Felix is checking them over now. They both need rest, but they'll be alright. Sky said that they had given Bridge some sort of drug, but he was able to get an antidote in time. If he had waited much longer, I'm not sure he would have been able to get it, but it's doing its job. They should both be awake soon." Kat smiled at the rangers to reassure them.

The rangers nodded and headed out of the Command Center to go wait for Sky and Bridge to wake up. The sooner they talked to their friends, the sooner they would be able to put this whole thing behind them. They waited outside of the infirmary until Dr. Felix came out.

"Cadet Tate is awake now, but I've given him some sedatives for the pain, he may be a little out of it, but you can go in now."

"And Bridge?" Z was hoping he would be awake too.

"Not quite there, but he should be waking up soon as well." The man patted her on the shoulder as they entered the room.

Now that he was not covered in his own blood, Sky looked a little better, but the bruising and swelling was starting to really show now that time had passed. Her perked up a little at the sight of his friends. Jack was the first to speak.

"Hey, buddy, how are you feeling?"

Sky laughed a little and winced. "Probably how I look, but the medicine is helping."

"What happened?" Syd sat down on the end of the bed.

"We went to investigate the noise complaint, but we knew something was wrong as soon as we got there. We were checking the building to see if anyone was there, but it seemed empty. Bridge could feel something was off and did a scan, but before he could tell me what he saw, a bunch of guys jumped us and knocked us out. Next thing I know I wake up alone tied to a chair in one of the rooms. Then this crazy guy comes in for information and tells me Bridge was dying and there were hostages. I wouldn't give anything up, so he had his goons do this a few times." Sky spoke slow trying to remember everything that happened.

"How'd you escape?" Z hated to think of what he had gone through.

Sky shook his head and looked over to the bed next to him. "Bridge. One minute that guy says Bridge doesn't have much time, and the next the guards are unconscious and Bridge is untying me. He knew everything that was going on and was able to steal tranquilizers to knock out that guy's men. We fought them downstairs, but were able to get the hostages out."

"That's sort of amazing." Jack looked over at Bridge's bed as well.

"Someone talking about me?" Bridge mumbled under his breath as he began to stir.

"Bridge!" Z came over to check on him.

Bridge opened his eyes. "Hey. Am I okay?" Before anyone could answer Bridge answered for himself. "I am, good."

"I'm going to go grab Dr. Felix." Syd left the room.

"Sky was just telling us how you saved the day." Jack smiled at him.

Bridge shrugged. "I couldn't catch him though."

Z came closer. "But you got the hostages and Sky out. We were about to trade for you guys."

Syd came back with Dr. Felix, Crueger, and Kat.

"Cadets Tate and Carson, it's good to see you awake." Crueger nodded at the two.

Dr. Felix began checking Bridge over, but the rangers wanted to know how they got out.

"So how did you do it, Bridge?" Jack was eager to understand what went on in the building.

"The guy that did all this was waiting for us. He knew about our abilities, and thought he knew about mine, but he didn't know enough. They put this doctor in with me to pretend and be a captive, but she was working with them. I knew that almost as soon they put her in the room with me. They took my gloves away and gave me a drug which was supposed to lower my control, make me confused so I'd babble them information, but I was able to keep control the entire time. I was able to read Dr. Jackson's mind and aura to tell me what they were doing. She makes chemical based weapons which they want to use to gain control of the city. I was able to get the antidote from her and knock out the guards with the tranquilizers in her bag."

"You did all that?" Syd could not believe it.

Bridge nodded, but noticed the look on Kat's face. "I know what you're thinking Kat, and yeah my abilities are evolving at a rapid pace, but so is my body to withstand the changes. A few months ago this would have overloaded me and there's no telling what would have happened, but I handled it all fine."

"Once you are fully recovered I want to run some tests, just to make sure your body is keeping up with the changes." Kat was still worried.

"Oh! I almost forgot, they thought I didn't know what I knew so I was able to feed them false information without them knowing…"

"What?" Jack was not following.

"I told the doctor that we don't keep heavy weaponry here. It's all in an underground warehouse in Sector 14, and then I pretended that I didn't know what I had said. I think she fell for it."

"Sector 14? You mean where the emergency food stores are kept?" Syd was confused.

Bridge nodded. "The guy in charge will look into it, and when he sees S.P.D. around he won't know there aren't weapons inside. He'll be going there soon though, probably going to hit it since he knows you guys are distracted analyzing what happened."

"Your quick thinking in the midst of a crisis is admiral." Crueger was impressed with Bridge. "Rangers I want you to go stake the warehouse out and try to bring this criminal in, but go with caution, we cannot have another incident like earlier today occur."

Jack, Syd, and Z saluted. "Yes sir!"

"In the meantime you two still need to get some rest. We will leave you to it." Crueger motioned for Kat to go first out of the room.

Once the rangers arrived near the warehouse, they went into a building across the street to stake it out. Just like Bridge had said, about two hours later a van pulled up outside the building. A thermal scan revealed seven people inside. It was not long before they got out and went inside the building. Jack, Syd, and Z took that as their cue to follow them in. They got into S.W.A.T mode and stormed the building.

"Hold it right there!" Jack pointed his Delta Enforcer at the men.

They seven men did not listen and rushed at the rangers with their laserss pointed. They all shot at the three, but each ranger was able to avoid the attack with ease. The men got a few good hits in, but for Jack, Syd, and Z, this was personal. They took down each man, and got them surrounded. After they were found guilty, the rangers carded them.

"I don't think the leader was here." Syd un-morphed and looked at her friends.

Z did the same. "Maybe one of these goons will tell us what we need to know."

Back at the base, Sky was trying to get some rest, but could not manage to get to sleep. His whole body hurt and his mind was racing about the events from earlier. He looked over at Bridge whose eyes were closed, but his face was a little scrunched up.

"You awake?"

Bridge opened his eyes looking at the ceiling. "Yeah, head's pounding too much."

"Everything finally catching up?"

"I guess so, but I feel a lot better than before."

"Well you aren't throwing up blood, so I'd say that's an improvement." Sky sighed. "I don't think I told you thanks yet, you know for saving me and everyone else."

"You would have done the same thing if you could have. I was just able, so I did."

"We almost died and thanks to you we didn't, you were a hero out there today Bridge."

Bridge smiled a little. "Thanks. I'm just glad the guy that planned all this didn't understand how my abilities worked. If he had, then we probably would be dead right now"

"I can't believe he had been watching all of us for so long and we had no idea." Sky shook his head.

"Yeah, he had a plan for all of us, but he's not going to give up until he's caught, and now he's just going to get mad if they catch his men and bring them in. This isn't the last we've heard of this guy."

"We'll get 'em Bridge, don't worry."

The next day, Dr. Felix released Bridge and Sky from the infirmary with orders to take it easy. They headed into the Rec-Room where the other rangers were. Syd smiled at the two.

"Glad you see you guys out of bed."

Sky lowered himself with caution, holding his ribs. "Yeah, only to be sent to the couch."

"You're not in any condition to fight yet, just give it time." Jack could see the pain on Sky's face.

"None of those goons are talking." Z looked at Bridge who made his way to the bean bag chair.

"Even if they wanted to talk, I'm not sure what good it would do. That guy wouldn't even tell them his name, so I highly doubt he'd let them know where he was hiding at." Bridge had tried to get that information out of Dr. Jackson with no luck.

"We'll find him." Jack assured the others.

"I don't' think we'll be able to find him unless he wants to be found." Although it sounded like a guess, Bridge was certain of this fact.

The rangers stayed with Bridge and Sky for the rest of the day. They talked about what had happened a little bit, but then they veered off onto other topics, which relieved the two. They did not want to dwell on the past if they could help it.

That night Bridge and Sky went to their room to try and get some sleep. It was the first time they had been alone to really process what had happened. When they were in the infirmary, they were so out of it sleeping was not much of a problem, but now they were both finding it difficult.

Sky could hear Bridge tossing and turning in his bed. If it were not for the pain he was still in, he would have been too.

"Can't sleep either?"

The noises on Bridge's side of the room stopped. "No."

"I'm not usually one to talk about stuff, but maybe we need to."

Bridge sighed. "What's there to talk about? We almost died, but we didn't and now we're here like none of it happened."

"But it did happen, and yeah we were both really close to being ended. That's kind of a big deal don't you think?"

"It's a huge deal, but we survived. Everyone survived. I'd say that's an accomplishment."

Sky shifted a little. "But that creep is still out there, and even though we have most if not all his men, he's still got whatever he was working on before."

"He's definitely a threat." Bridge agreed. "He's not working with Gruumm, which means sooner or later we may have to fight on double fronts."

"If we ever get to go back in the field."

Bridge smiled a little. "It's only been a day Sky. Your swelling hasn't even gone all the way down yet."

"I know, I just hate sitting around doing nothing." Sky sighed.

"Kat said as soon as we are well rested and pass our psych evaluations, we can go back." Bridge moaned a little. "I hate psych evaluations, I never know what they are going to think. The way I talk, the way my mind works, I always think they are going to call me crazy and kick me off the squad."

"That won't happen. You've done these things more than anyone, so you'll be fine." Sky laughed a little.

"Hey!" Bridge threw a pillow at Sky.

"Ow, you can't throw stuff at a wounded comrade."

"I think I already did." Bridge laughed.

The boys felt better as the night went on, and were able to get to sleep. Sky slept for most of the night, but Bridge kept getting woken up by the same strange dream. He could not process it yet, but a bad feeling was beginning to develop in the pit of his stomach.

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 **AN: Thanks for reading!**


	5. Back In

**Thank you Adrianna Agray and StyxxsOmega for reviewing!**

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Over the next week, Bridge and Sky felt like they were ready to go back in the field. Sky was still healing, but he was going to the gym every day to try and keep his strength up. In their time off of the squad, the two were required to be evaluated by the base psychologist to ensure they were mentally ready to be back in the field.

Bridge was first to see Dr. Thomas. He had talked with her before, but it always made him nervous. Bridge went into her office and sat down. She smiled at him.

"Cadet Carson, how are you?"

"How am I? You mean how am I mentally after everything that happened, or do you mean how am I physically after everything, or do you mean how am I at this moment right now?"

The doctor stared at him with confused eyes. "I was really just making small talk to try and get you comfortable with this session."

"Oh, then I'm fine."

She nodded and went on with her analysis. "Alright, we can just jump into it I suppose. How are you feeling since the hostage situation?"

Bridge shrugged a little. "Fine. I was caught off guard, wasn't the first time I was held captive, and won't be the last."

"Why do you say it won't be the last?"

Bridge looked away for a moment. "Part of the job, things happen, but all you can do is get through it, and that's what I did."

Dr. Thomas nodded. "You were quite the hero, being able to keep composure while figuring out how to escape. Dr. Manx wrote in her notes that your abilities have been evolving."

"They have, but I've been evolving to adapt to them. Controlling my powers wasn't a problem, even after getting poisoned. It was tiring to keep up my control sure, but I don't think they would have burst or anything." Bridge rubbed his eyes a little.

"Have you been sleeping?" Dr. Thomas caught that.

Bridge did not want to answer, but knew he had to. "Not really. Every time I close my eyes I…I don't know really."

"What do you see?"

"Just lights, really bright lights and then I keep hearing this buzzing, but that's it, there's nothing more to it, but it just won't get out of my head."

"You aren't having any dreams of what happened?"

Bridge shook his head. "No, nothing like that."

Dr. Thomas looked through her notes. "Dr. Manx also mentioned that you've had prophetic dreams in the past. Do you think what you are seeing is something like that?"

"I don't know, usually those dreams are like I'm not really dreaming. I see everything playing out, but then knowing lets me change it, but this doesn't feel like that, but it also doesn't feel like a normal dream either. I'm not sure what my mind is trying to tell me."

"I'm going to prescribe you something to help you sleep. Now if you were to go back in the field tomorrow, how would you feel about it?"

"Relieved. Sitting around here all day is starting to drive me nuts. I know there is stuff to do here, but I want to be back out there. I love being a Power Ranger and would never give that up."

Dr. Thomas nodded. "Alright, that should be all. If the medicine doesn't work, or if the dreams get worse, let me know. I have to send my report to Crueger, but I think you are ready to get back out there."

Bridge smiled. "Thank you."

He left her office where Sky was waiting outside.

"How'd it go?"

"Good, I think. I hope. Good luck."

Sky smiled at him. "Thanks."

Dr. Thomas greeted Sky as he came into her office. "Cadet Tate, it's nice to see you, have a seat."

Sky sat down and straightened his jacket.

"You seem to be healing up well."

"Yeah, I feel a lot better."

"Good, that must have been hard to go through."

Sky shrugged. "I don't know, yeah it was no picnic, but the beating wasn't really the problem."

"What was?"

"Feeling so useless." Sky sighed. "Being tied down with no way out, I hated that feeling."

"You wanted to save everyone, but we can't always save people."

"That's not an option, it's my job to protect people from evil."

"Sometimes protecting people, and saving them are two different things." Dr. Thomas looked at her notes. "What were you thinking about when you were alone in that room?"

"Talking. I didn't want to give that psycho any information. I knew that no matter what I was dead, and I was okay with that. I knew that Bridge would probably die too, but if there was even a chance to save him and the other hostages, then I had to take it. I weighed it back and forth the whole time on what to do. I wanted to save them, but I also didn't want my actions to cause more deaths later."

"There isn't always a right and wrong answer, the grey area is often there swaying our decisions."

"But before I had to make that decision, Bridge burst in and saved the day. I wouldn't be here without him right now."

"While everyone got out of this alive, the assailant still got away. How are you feeling about that?"

"Angry, I want him caught. I want him put to justice. We're looking, but Bridge doesn't seem to think we'll find him unless he finds us…I don't know. Bridge has always been a weird guy, but I'm starting to think all his talk isn't just random, I think he really understands things no one else can, and that scares me." Sky looked at the door.

"You worry something else is going to happen?"

"I don't know, I think maybe Bridge does. This whole thing just doesn't feel finished, but we've caught the guy's men, so I don't think there is much else that can be done. I have to believe that we won."

"Your team is the one of the best to ever come through these halls, I have full faith that all of you will bring the justice that's deserved." Dr. Thomas smiled. "Now if you were to go back to the field tomorrow, how would you react?"

Sky nodded. "Happy. I've been training a lot every day to make sure physically I'm ready, and I feel like I am. I don't want to sit out anymore; I want to be where the action is."

"Alright." Dr. Thomas stood up. "That should do it then, if you have any more troubles or concerns please feel free to come talk to me."

"Thank you." Sky stood up and shook the doctor's hand.

After Sky left Dr. Thomas' office, he made his way to the Rec-Room where the other rangers were. Bridge was already filling them in on his session with the doctor. Sky found a seat and waited for Bridge to finish. Jack nodded at the Blue Ranger.

"How'd your talk go?"

Sky shrugged. "Good I think, hopefully we'll both be back on active duty soon."

"As long as you're ready." Syd gave him a look.

"I am. I may still look like I can't do anything, but I can, and I'm ready." The bruises on Sky's face were still dark, and Sky knew the Rangers thought he was too hurt to fight with them still.

"Hey, Sky you don't have to get so defensive, Syd was just saying that it's okay if you aren't ready. No one will think less of you." Z tried to reach out to Sky, but he was not having it.

"I'm fine."

Jack was able to change the subject after that the rangers all hung out a little longer there before going off to do their own tasks for the day. Before Bridge and Sky could go off their separate ways, Jack stopped them from leaving.

"Could I talk to you two for a minute?"

They both turned around and walked back up to Jack.

Jack seemed like he was having trouble finding his words. "Look, I just wanted say…well I haven't really been able to talk to either of you since this whole thing ended. I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have sent you there. I got you in that mess, and I couldn't even get you out."

"Jack, what happened wasn't your fault." Sky stared at him like he was dumb. "If it wasn't us getting taken in the building, it would have been you or Syd, or Z."

"Yeah, don't feel bad Jack, things could have been worse if it were turned around. You couldn't have done anything more than what you were doing to help us, but we're here now and okay, so it's okay." Bridge agreed with Sky.

"I just keep thinking about that moment a decided to send you to that place, and how that could have been the last thing either of you ever did." Jack looked at the ground.

"Following orders is part of the job. Responding to calls is part of the job. Sometimes the job doesn't go smooth, but like Bridge said, we're okay now, so don't beat yourself up over it."

Jack nodded. "Okay, thanks guys."

Sky and Bridge both clapped a hand on Jack's arms, reassuring they did not blame him for what happened.

That night Bridge pulled out the sleep medicine Dr. Thomas had prescribed him from his pocket. Sky, who was reading his handbook, looked up.

"What's that?"

Bridge popped off the top of the bottle. "Supposed to help me sleep, but I don't know."

Sky shut his book and pulled his legs over his bed. "You haven't been sleeping?"

"Not really, keep having weird dreams that wake me up."

Sky was mad at himself for not noticing. "Dreams, about what happened?"

Bridge shook his head. "No, nothing like that. I wouldn't even call it a dream so much as a weird sensory overload. There's these bright lights and then a buzzing sound I can't seem to get out of my head sometimes."

Sky was not sure what to make of that. "Hopefully the medicine helps."

"We'll see." Bridged nodded and laid down on his bed.

Sky turned off his light and did the same. He spent most of the night worrying about Bridge, though if he were honest he was having occasional nightmares about what had happened. More exact, was would could have happened. Like Jack, Sky worried every night about what would have happened if Bridge had not been there. If the drugs they gave him had acted faster and he was unable to escape. Sky hated to think about the aftermath that could have passed from that day.

When morning came, Sky looked over to see Bridge, in what looked like, a peaceful sleep. He let the Green Ranger sleep a little longer before waking him for training. Once Bridge got the sleep out of his eyes and stood up, Sky was able to talk to him.

"Meds help?"

Bridge nodded and yawned. "Best sleep yet."

"Good, come on."

Bridge nodded, got dressed, and followed Sky to the cafeteria for breakfast. Before they could head to training once they ate, Kat called them into the Command Center. The boys rushed there, both hoping for good news. Crueger stood, waiting for them with his hands behind his back. 

"Cadet's Tate and Carson; after talking with Dr. Thomas and Dr. Manx, we've decided it is time for you to return to active duty."

"Yes!" Bridge elbowed the air and gave a small high five to Sky, who looked subtlety pleased on the outside.

Before Commander Crueger could say anything else, the alarms went off.

"Looks like you two were reinstated just at the right time. There are Troobians attacking downtown." Kat was looking at the energy fields on the computer.

"Go Rangers." Crueger commanded.

"Yes sir!" Bridge and Sky both saluted and met with the others to take care of the threat.

The three others were glad to see Bridge and Sky joining them as they ran off to fight whatever Gruumm had sent them. Krybots were attempting to steal scrap metal in the junkyard. The Rangers set off to stop them. Bridge was happy to be fighting again, it felt good. The Krybots got a couple of good punches in, but for the most part his reaction time had stayed in shape. Sky too was feeling good about the fight. He was still sore in a few places, so he felt a little slower than normal, but he was throwing his punches harder than ever before. He had a lot of unresolved anger he needed to vent out onto the robots.

The Rangers were able to take out the Krybots pretty fast, even after Gruumm had sent a Blue and Orange head to try and stop them. After the fight, the Rangers were making sure everything was back in order. What they did not know was that someone had been watching them throughout their battle, waiting for their chance to get revenge on one Ranger in particular.

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 **AN: Thanks for reading!**


	6. Gone

**Thank you Adrianna Agray and StyxxsOmega for reviewing!**

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Sky and Bridge had been back on the team for almost a month now, and although the man that took them hostage was still out there, that day was becoming a faded memory. Bridge was still having occasional trouble sleeping, but the medicine that Dr. Thomas had given him was helping a lot. The thoughts of that day were being pushed farther back as the days passed.

On one morning in particular, however, things seemed off. When Sky woke up he looked over to see Bridge sitting straight up in bed not looking at anything in particular. Sky had seen that look before, and it never meant anything good.

"Hey buddy, you okay?"

Bridge looked over at Sky. "Don't give up looking."

Before Sky could ask him what he was talking about, the alarms went off.

Bridge seemed to snap out of whatever he was thinking, and jump up along with Sky. During the last few days Gruumm had been throwing everything at them any chance he got. The Rangers knew this day would be no different. Day after day the Rangers had been fighting monsters and giant robots to the point of near exhaustion. This time the Rangers ran into the city to find that four monsters, several Blue heads, Orange heads, and Krybots were attacking the innocent citizens of New Tech City. The Rangers morphed and went to work defending the area. As they fought through the foot soldiers, the rangers set out to fight the monsters.

Bridge found himself fighting one on his own. It was a green lizard like creature that looked kind of funny, but turned out to be very strong. The more everyone fought, the further away they seemed to get from each other. Bridge was holding his own just fine, until the monster got ahold of him and threw him hard into a close by ally. He hit fire escape stairs and spun to the ground. When he collided with the asphalt, he was un-morphed. Bridge winced in pain, but was quick to grab his laser and blast the lizard coming towards him. The creature yelled out and whined. He retreated before Bridge could get up again. Just as Bridge was about to re-morph and help the others, a canister landed in front of him. Bridge looked at it in confusion for a second before smoke began to pour out of it. Bridge scuttled away from it as fast as he could, but he had already breathed the substance in. He tried to run, but was hit with a wave of vertigo. A figure appeared before him wearing a gas mask, but Bridge did not need to see his face to know who had done this. It did not take long for Bridge to fall again, this time unconscious.

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The fight with the other monsters was going well. After one retreated, the rest began to follow suit, too scared to face off with the Rangers. None of the monsters were arrested, but they had left the city for the time being. The Rangers were about to report back when they noticed something missing.

"Where's Bridge?" Sky had already un-morphed and began scanning the area.

The others looked around too, and did not see him. Jack grabbed his morpher and called Bridge.

"Bridge, where are you? Come in."

Silence.

Jack looked at the others. "Bridge, are you there?"

Still nothing.

"I don't like this." Z shook her head.

"Me neither, let's start looking." Jack began to look around.

The rangers all went separate ways as they began looking for their lost friend. A few minutes later Syd yelled out to the others.

"Over here!"

Everyone ran to where the Pink Ranger was standing. There was no sign of Bridge, but instead they saw something that terrified them. On the ground laid Bridge's gloves and morpher. Someone took Bridge, and they all know who.

Sky stared at the objects on the ground. "He knew…oh God, he knew he would be taken."

"What?" Jack turned to the Blue Ranger. "What are you talking about?"

"This morning, Bridge was acting weird. Said we can't stop looking…I think he knew this would happen."

Jack picked up Bridge's gloves and morpher. "We need to get back to base. We won't stop looking until we find him."

When they got back to S.P.D. the Rangers ran into the Command Center, where Kat was already scanning the entire city to find Bridge.

"Anything?" Z ran up to the monitor.

"No, nothing. Without his morpher there is no way to track him, and the closest security footage doesn't help much." Kat pulled up the video from when Bridge was taken.

The Rangers all watched Bridge fight the monster, and just as he was about to get up they saw the back of a man. He threw a canister towards Bridge and then the entire area filled with smoke. By the time the smoke cleared, Bridge was gone.

"That's it?" Sky looked at Kat. "There's no other angles?"

Kat shook her head. "No, the ally blocks most of it. I think the person responsible for taking Bridge knew where the cameras were."

"We know who did this, which means we may not have a lot of time. This scumbag left Bridge's morpher, so I doubt this is a tradeoff situation like before. He wants revenge." Jack walked over to Commander Crueger. "Sir, there has to be something we can do."

"All we can do is keep looking, unless we get another clue as to who this individual is or where he may have taken Cadet Carson. I suggest you all take another crack at getting his men to talk. Right now they are our only lead." They could all hear the worry in Crueger's voice.

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Before Bridge opened his eyes, he could feel the pain running through his body. His wrists, neck, and ankles, in particular, hurt the most. There was a stinging that felt like something was protruding into his skin. Besides the pain, Bridge felt strange, almost like he was floating. He could feel his skin exposed to the air. Bridge cracked his eyes open, but was blinded by bright lights. He squeezed his eyes shut again, and began to pull on his restraints. That only made more pain rush through this wrists and ankles. Bridge opened and closed his eyes a little to look at his hand. He was being suspended by what looked like some type of metal coils. There were also wires running from each restraint and what seemed to be a collar around his neck. Bridge thought about the dream he had been having for so long; bright lights. He knew it would do no good, but Bridge continued to pull. Suddenly a quick jolt of electricity shot through him, causing him to go slack. That buzzing, it was just like his dream.

Bridge could hear laughing in the room, and he knew who it was. He tried to find the man in the room, but could not see anything. The lights were too bright, blocking everything for him.

"So the lights are working then."

Bridge's head turned to where the voice had come from.

"Wasn't sure if the lights were enough to block your vision. The doctor I had spend so much time with you was very informative on what she learned. She just went on and on about your powers, how you were able to see the guards through the door. I must admit I was not prepared for you the first time around, but not this time."

Bridge's breath began to increase as he realized the severity of his situation.

"I've spent nearly every minute since your team took my men designing how to trap you. You can't get out, can't read any energy, and I have a fun little button that sends an electric current throughout your body. Each cuff is attached to the other by wires, not to mention the metal prongs that are stabbing into your skin for that extra jolt."

"Why are you doing this?"

That got Bridge a shock. "Why?" The man was angry. "Why? Because I had a plan that I had worked two years on! I was building up an army, gaining weapons, intelligence. I would be able to rival Gruumm for this world, but then my final pieces fell apart because of you. I will admit I was a little greedy going to S.P.D. for what I wanted, but I knew you had confiscated some of the best weapons. If I could have gotten codes to the Megazord I would have been unstoppable. I didn't anticipate the extent of your power, and I was left with nothing. All that work became worthless. I even had to dispose of Dr. Jackson because of the events that have transpired since that day. So why do I do this? I do it strictly for revenge, and that's it. You will suffer, because I want you to."

Bridge had been dreaming about this situation for weeks, but he could never see past the lights, or hear beyond the buzzing of electricity. Usually Bridge had a good sense of how things would turn out, but right now, he knew nothing. Bridge had not felt as lost as he did right then in almost his entire life. This crazy man had figured out a way to block his abilities. He had figured out the best way to hurt him, and make him scared. Bridge could no longer rely on the comfort of his senses. All he could do was hope the others would be able to track him down in time.

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The Rangers had been searching non-stop since Bridge's disappearence with no luck. They were constantly scanning the city for any sign of the Green Ranger, but they could not seem to find any trace of him anywhere. They asked around hoping someone had seen something, but even Piggy who seemed to know everything that was going on, knew nothing.

"I'll keep my ear out." Piggy was actually being genuine. He really did like Bridge the best out of all the Rangers, and did not want to see him hurt. Piggy even decided to keep that information to himself and not share with Gruumm or Broodwing.

Each ranger was searching to the point of exhaustion. Sky in particular would barely stop to do anything else. Crueger could see the ware etching into his cadets, so he ordered them to get some rest before searching again. Sky was angry about this, but complied with what he was told. Jack noticed Sky was in the Rec-Room staring at the wall. The Red Ranger sat down next to him.

"You can't go in your room can you?"

Sky sighed. "It feels wrong to be able to sleep in my own bed, when his is empty. The guy that has him is insane and we took out all of his plans. He had no problem with wasting us before, and since he hasn't contacted us…Bridge could already be gone."

Jack shook his head. "Don't talk like that. We'll find him. He's alive. Bridge is stronger than that to just be thrown away, he'll fight and he'll get through this just like before."

Sky rubbed his eyes. "I hope you're right."

"I am. Besides you said Bridge had been dreaming about this right? That he said don't stop looking. If he dreamed that he wasn't going to make it, then he wouldn't have said that to you. He's still out there, and we will get him back."

Sky nodded. "I can't pretend to understand how Bridge's abilities work, but he always seems to be right about…well about everything. Sometimes you have to decipher some babble, but truth is in there. He's been getting more powerful lately, and you're right he wouldn't have told me to keep looking for him if it would be for nothing. I just wish we had some type of clue or something to help."

Jack smiled a little. "Yeah, if only we had another Bridge…he can find just about anything can't he?"

"Yeah, he really can."

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 **AN: Thanks for reading!**


	7. Terror

**Thank you Adrianna Agray and StyxxsOmega for reviewing!**

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Bridge hated this feeling. Besides the pain, he felt shut down. Anytime he tried to open his eyes, the bright lights were too much. They shined on him causing him to sweat. The constant humming they were giving off was beginning to drive him crazy. He hated not knowing what was going on. He hated not being able to see beyond the lights to know when the man was in the room. He could sense nothing. He knew nothing. And that terrified him. Bridge had always been able to stay fairly calm in every situation, because he knew things would work out, but now he was losing hope. The days leading up to his capture, he had sensed it was coming, but he could never see beyond that. Bridge did not like the fact that the man that took him could be watching him every moment. The man could push the button and send painful shocks throughout his entire body. The man was breaking Bridge, and that too terrified him.

Bridge's head was drooping when a shock went through his entire system. His eyes popped open for a second before he squeezed them shut again. He let out a pained and frustrated groan only to be retorted by laughter.

"Can't have you passing out on me already. I've barely scratched the surface with my fun."

Bridge said nothing.

"I want to talk about you." Footsteps could be heard, like the man was pacing back and forth.

"I'm not telling you anything."

"No, no, I don't care about information or anything like that anymore. Not after you ruined that for me. No, I spent weeks watching you and your team and I had it all figured out. Red could walk through walls, Blue could make shields, Yellow could multiply, Pink could absorb material, and you could read energy fields. I watched, and you want to know what I noticed? None of them ever took you seriously. They never listened. I had a plan for every single Ranger, knowing one to all of you could come through the door of that building, and you I thought would be easiest to crack. You are the confused one, you seemed out of it half the time, but no, you turn out to be the most challenging. So tell me Bridge Carson, how exactly do you work?"

Bridge said nothing for a moment. "You know, I think you talk more than I do."

The man laughed before pressing the button sending shocks of electricity into Bridge.

Bridge yelled out in pain through his teeth.

"You're going to have to play along, or I'm just gonna keep pushing this button until it breaks. Your choice."

After leaning his head back, Bridge took a deep breath. "What do you want to know about me?"

"That's better, tell me how you got these powers. I've never seen anyone like you and your team."

"We were all born with them. Our parents all worked at S.P.D. but one day something they were working on went wrong, and sent a surge of biometric energy through them altering their D.N.A. passing the alterations into us."

The silence in the room told Bridge to go on. "I've had these abilities for as long as I can remember. They've developed over time, but I'm wired different than everyone else. I see different than anyone else. The gloves help contain my power, but it's always there."

"What all can you do?" The curiosity on the man's voice made Bridge cringe.

"If you'd just turn off these lights, I can show you what I can do." Bridge was expecting a zap for that response, but instead the man only laughed.

"Nice try. Go on…"

Bridge kept his eyes shut and sighed. "I think you know most of it…I can interpret energy, read auras, read minds, but that's fairly new."

"So your abilities are still developing?"

Bridge started to nod, but any movement hurt. "Yeah, particularly over the past few months, but I used to catch a few thoughts here and there, but now I can focus on someone and see and hear everything."

"You know I watched you for a long time, and I was under the impression that your abilities got the best of you more often than not. I could see your control slipping from time to time, but that never happened under my capture…why?"

"Like I said I was born like this, my body adapts as my abilities grow, but sometimes I can't keep up with me. Things can become too much. Overwhelming. I feel emotions, everyone's all the time, and I have to constantly keep walls up in my mind to make sure they don't take over. To make sure I'm still me. Sometimes the thoughts can be overpowering, and I get confused because I don't know what thoughts are mine or someone else's. Headaches are pretty much a constant, sometimes I get nosebleeds, occasionally I pass out, and very rarely I have seizures. That's what you were hoping for before, but like I said I'm built for my power so it takes a lot for something to go wrong."

"Astonishing really. Can you do anything else?"

Weariness was hitting Bridge, but he knew if he did not talk, the man would hurt him more. "I know things, have dreams about the future. I dreamed this." He tried to open his eyes to find the man in the room, but could not see past the bright lights around him.

"And what happened in the end?"

"Never saw past the lights."

Bridge could almost hear the smile on the man's face.

"You know what I don't understand. Why waste such a great power?" The man was still pacing. "There is so much you can do, and it seems like your abilities are endless. They keep growing with no sign of slowing down. You've evolved so much in just the time you've been a ranger…think about what you could do if your abilities weren't being snuffed by morality."

"I would never use my powers for evil." Bridge wondered if the man would ever leave him alone.

"Evil…what is evil and good anymore? It's all perception isn't it? Think of the power you could wield if you just let go and not stop yourself because of that _good_ code you live by. You could find and take down anyone you saw as a threat to the innocent people you care so much for. You could rule everything, and even give Gruumm a run for his money. You could be unstoppable."

Bridge huffed. "Are you trying to get me to join your insane cause?"

That got Bridge a short shock.

The man waited for Bridge to recover. "You wouldn't need me. Not with power like yours. Look at what I had to go through just to keep you here. You're suspended by metal restraints hooked up with electricity. Lights completely surround you just so you aren't able to vibe out all the energy. This is what it takes to slow you down, imagine how strong you could be. You can read minds now…I bet in time you could control them too."

"Minds are personal. Reading them is something I only do if I have to, or if someone has consented to it. Controlling a mind would be worse. No one should have that kind of power, no one should get to choose who is guilty and who is innocent. We have laws for a reason, and that is what we live by." Bridge yelled out as more electricity was forced through his body.

"It's talk like that which sets us apart." The man was speaking louder now. "You waste your power because you believe in the system. Well the system is flawed, and you know it just as well as I. Think about the things you could have accomplished if you hadn't let the system slow you down. Think about where you could have been if you hadn't let your emotions and morality get in the way. Think about that while I torture you some more."

Bridge had almost no time to prepare before the next wave of electricity hit. He had no idea how long this would go on for, but he hoped it would end soon.

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Twenty-four hours since Bridge's disappearance was quickly approaching, and Sky had found himself at the spot he was taken for the third time. The others were searching the surrounding blocks while Sky was hoping to find something he missed. He had scoured the streets, coming up with nothing new. Bridge was just gone, as if he had never existed. But Bridge did exist, and he was out there somewhere, Sky just had to figure out where. He continued to think about his time with the man, wondering if he had said anything, given any type of clue that could lead Sky back to him. Sky knew it was a long shot, but he decided to go back to the office building they were held hostage in. Maybe there he would find a clue.

Sky stood in front of the office building he and Bridge were held in weeks before. He did not want to go inside, but if there was any hope of finding a clue in there, he would risk it. Sky pulled his laser out just in case the man had come back. He wanted to be ready for anything. As Sky walked inside, he looked around before heading upstairs. First he looked at where he and Bridge were ambushed before, but found nothing. He then began to search the entire building. He realized he had no idea where Bridge was being kept before, only that it was on the other end of where he had been. There was no way to tell really, all of the rooms looked relatively the same. So far Sky had come up empty, so he made his way to the other side of the office. He recognized the area as soon as he stepped in it. Sky found the room he had been kept in.

When Sky entered, he noticed the ropes still on the ground next to the chair he was tied to. Dried blood drops littered the floor. For some reason this surprised Sky. The Rangers needed no evidence after what had happened, and in all the chaos a cleaning crew was never sent. The building was abandoned anyway, so why would they send someone? Sky held his side, thinking about the beatings he had been put through. It was like he could feel every punch again. Sky straightened up, forgetting those thoughts, this trip was not about him. There was nothing of use in that room, so Sky decided to search every room of every floor. He would not give up. Sky had lost track of time in the building. He did not care how long it took; he needed to find something that could lead them in the right direction, any direction for that matter.

"There's nothing here, Sky."

Sky stopped looking through a pile of papers he had found and looked up to see Jack standing in the doorway.

"There has to be something." Sky went back to looking.

Jack took a step closer. "You're grasping at straws."

Sky shook his head like he did not care. "No."

"Sky…"

"No!" Sky smacked the papers across the room. "We can't stop looking. We have nothing. There has to be something here!"

Jack came closer and spoke soft. "He didn't leave anything here."

Sky held back tears. "Just our blood on the floor…"

Jack put a hand on Sky's shoulder. "We'll never stop trying to find Bridge, Sky. He's out there, and we will find him, but this isn't the place to look. We may not find any signs, so we just have to keep looking for him."

"We're running out of time, Jack. I know we are. Bridge is running out of time, and we are no closer to finding him than the moment he was taken. We can't find the doctor that Bridge was with, the guys' goons won't talk, and there is no evidence as to where he could be. That scumbag watched us without us even noticing, and he's getting away with this because he's outsmarting us. I think we're going to lose him…"

Now Jack was holding back tears, but he shook his head to push them back. "No, I won't accept that. Bridge is strong, he showed how much in this building. If he got out of that, he'll get out of this, and we'll be there when he does."

Sky nodded.

"Okay, now let's look somewhere else." Jack motioned for Sky to follow him out of the room.

Sky knew there was nothing in that building, but he had no idea where else to look. He was starting to think Bridge may not even be in the city anymore. He could be anywhere, and they had nothing to go on. Jack was right though, they could not lost hope. Bridge was strong, maybe stronger than any of them, and if there was a way out of wherever he was, he would find it.

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 **AN: Thanks for reading!**


	8. Last Hope

**Thank you Adrianna Agray and StyxxsOmega for reviewing!**

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Bridge had not even realized he had fallen asleep when the long jolt of electricity seized through his body. By reflex he opened his eyes wide, only to shut them again because of the lights. His whole body was shaking, and the heat was making him feel sick, not to mention the massive headache he had.

"Now, now, we can't have you falling asleep on me." Of course the man was in there, he was always watching. "I told you I want you to suffer Bridge. If you aren't conscious that doesn't cause for much suffering now does it?"

Bridge was so tired, but the man was right. If he was not awake he would not feel the pain being thrown at him. Bridge just hoped that maybe he would pass out for a while, at least then he could get a little rest.

"This silent treatment is beginning to bore me. I think I may have shocked all the fun out of you."

Still, Bridge said nothing.

"So that's it then? We're already done with our interaction? And to think of all the trouble I went through to build this contraption to keep you. I guess I could reuse it, maybe on your other teammates."

That got Bridge's attention. "Don't touch them."

"Ah, so that is what it takes. I keep forgetting you heroes have so much compassion and heart. You care about one another. Well Green, if you don't start figuring out something to entertain me then I may just need to let you expire and move on to the friends you care so much about. The ones that can't find you I may add."

"You want to be entertained?" Bridge's voice was just above a whisper. "Why don't we talk about you, and when you decided to enjoy torturing people. I'm quite curious about that."

Bridge knew he would get shocked for that, and he was right, but the man began to talk.

"You want to talk about me? Not much to talk about really. I come from a good family who has always been well off. I lived a mundane life. No mommy issues, no trauma in my childhood. Truthfully, I was just bored. My family wanted me to use my knowledge to help people." He laughed a little. "So I went to Med School, but while I was there I just saw all the wasted potential around me. No one wanted anything different, they just wanted to be doctors and fit in their little spots so perfectly. I wanted more."

"So you decided on world domination?" Bridge was trying to stay conscious to get some insight on the guy keeping him.

The man laughed. "I guess you could say that. Power is a great thing. No emotions or ties holding you back. When I met Dr. Jackson she understood that sacrifices must be made for the perfect future. Sacrifice is inevitable. I wanted to rule and create a world that was more riveting than this one. Of course that all stopped when you came along. So I guess I just have to settle on hurting you instead."

The agony was overpowering when the next long wave of electricity hit. Bridge became hoarse from screaming so much. Part of him just wished it would all end.

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Z, Syd, and Kat were in the Command Center working around the clock on anything that could help them find Bridge. Jack and Sky came in looking defeated on their field search.

"Any luck?" Jack knew by the look on the girls' faces they had come up just as empty handed as they had.

"Nothing, I'm guessing you did find anything either." Z was starting to feel lost.

"We need a different approach to this." Sky stood next to Kat who was on the computer. "I think we need to widen the search as far as possible. There is a good chance that psycho took him outside of the city. We also need to revisit the doctor. If we can find her maybe we can find Bridge."

"Initial searches came up empty." Syd shook her head.

"Yeah, but what do we know about her? Maybe we can track her down from what Bridge told us. We've been looking for the name, but not much else." Z looked at Sky.

Sky nodded. "Okay, what do we know besides her last name is Jackson? She's a bio chemist. She's the one that created the drug they used on Bridge. He said she was working closely with the guy that orchestrated everything to create chemical weapons. That stuff used on Bridge when he was taken, there was none there left there, but it was some sort of gas."

"That could be useful." Kat began typing on the computer. "To be able to create and test chemical gases, they would need a lab with certain requirements. I'll start searching the city and surrounding area for any facility that could be used to do such projects."

For the first time since Bridge was taken, the rangers felt like maybe they were beginning to get a lead into finding Bridge. All had seemed lost before that moment, they just hoped they would be able to find the doctor in question; she could be the key into finding the Green Ranger. Fifteen minutes later, Kat yelled for the Rangers to come over.

"I think I may have found a place that could be used for what they were working on. It's the closest shot we've had so far."

Jack nodded. "Good, we'll go check it out."

"Be careful, this could be another trap." Kat warned the other in hopes this did not turn out like before.

The Rangers knew the dangers of what they could be walking into, but if it meant finding Bridge, they did not care. The Rangers sped to the address Kat had given them. Once they got there, they morphed with their weapons ready prepared for anything.

The building they were in was definitely being used as a laboratory of some kind, which was a good sign. That could mean the Doctor was close, or even, if they were lucky, Bridge. It was quiet which worried Sky the most. He remembered how quiet the office building he and Bridge went in was before they were jumped. The four Rangers began to search the building with caution. There was scientific equipment lying all around, this had to be the place.

"Anything yet?" Jack came over the comm.

"Negative." Syd radioed back first.

"No, nothing." Z was losing hope.

"Not yet." Sky would search every inch of that place in hopes of a clue.

Jack went into one of the rooms when he saw something peculiar behind a lab table. He walked close to the area, and when he saw what it was he cursed under his breath.

"Guys, she's dead." Jack shook his head and a few moments later the other rangers began to file into the room.

"What happened?" Z stopped when she saw the body.

"Looks like poison."

Syd shook her head. "That guy probably poisoned her with her own chemicals."

"She must have known where they were going." Sky slammed his hand down on the table in anger. "She was all we had!"

"Let's look around, see if maybe there is something to point us in any direction." Jack hoped that would calm Sky down.

"The team, who had un-morphed now, all began looking through everything in the room. Sky was going through a cabinet when he looked over at the dead Doctor and slammed it shut.

"This is pointless. This guy is always going to be a step ahead. He thinks of everything. There won't be any clues here because she was the only one that maybe knew where he would have taken Bridge. We aren't going to find him." For the first time since they had started searching, Sky felt like giving up.

"Don't talk like that Sky." Z glared at him.

Jack sighed. "I know everything seems hopeless right now, and yeah that guy seemed to think of everything, except for one thing. Bridge. He underestimated him before and he may think he understands him now, but let's face it, no one understands Bridge, but Bridge. So no matter what this guy thinks he can do, he's wrong. Bridge is strong, one of the strongest people I've ever met, and he will survive this, and we will find him."

Sky wanted to believe Jack's words, but could not say anything. Instead he held back tears and nodded. They had to keep hope.

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Another wave of electricity hit Bridge causing him to yell out with what was left of his voice. In that moment he decided he could not take anymore. Bridge knew if he let things go any farther he would die. He did not want to die in that place, not like that. He had to do something to stop it. He felt helpless in his position, but he knew there had to be a chance deep down. He concentrated on his powers, ignored the electricity flowing through him, and let go of all his walls and blocks. He let his instincts take over. The electricity stopped and Bridge heard the man make a struggled sound. There was a clang, like something hitting the floor.

"What are you doing?" The man's shadow went in front of the lights for the first time.

Bridge said nothing, but pushed on. He needed to end this. Flashes spread across his mind, memories of the man before him. The one he knew almost nothing about until this moment. He began to see everything. Edward Wiesel: that was his name.

Edward Wiesel who was now screaming out in pain. Bridge's head felt like it would collapse in on itself, and he too yelled out in pain. All at once every light in the room exploded and there was darkened silence. Blood dripped from his nose, but he could breathe again. Bridge knew what he had done. The man, Edward, was lying on the ground bleeding out from the massive aneurism Bridge had just caused him to have. He could feel again, and see again. At least see in the only way Bridge could when all the lights were out.

Bridge hurt all over, and even with the lights gone his eyes hurt, but he opened them to try and figure out his next move. The darkness was too overwhelming. Bridge could not see the restraints that held him. Not that it mattered, he saw everything in Edward's mind. He was locked in, and each restraint had metal prongs that stabbed into his skin, along with longer prongs screwed in. He would not be able to slip out or undo them. Bridge was stuck. He was stuck in this place, and the only person that could have helped him was now dead on the ground in a puddle of blood. The irony of it all was that he knew where he was now; he saw it in Edward's mind, still in the city, but underground. No one else knew about that place, save for Dr. Jackson, but he saw the sick poisoning Edward had caused her as well. Bridge could only think of one way out of this, and he was not sure he had the strength or even the ability to do it.

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" _Sky…Sky….help me…find me."_

"Sky?" Sydney was shaking Sky's shoulder.

They were all in the Command Center when Sky jumped up out of his seat. All of the Rangers were staring at him.

"I know where he is."

The others looked at each other before Z spoke. "Sky, you fell asleep, it was just a dream."

"No, it wasn't…I fell asleep yeah, but it was Bridge, somehow he showed me where he is. There's a building that leads down to a basement on the edge of the city." Sky's eyes looked tired and desperate.

Jack chimed in now. "Sky, sometimes dreams can seem real, and with how much we want to find Bridge, it's not surprising to have a dream like that."

Sky shook his head. "You aren't listening to me. It was Bridge. You said yourself that he would find a way out of where he was, and he just did that. Trust me, I know it's him."

Jack hesitated on an answer. He hoped it really was Bridge making contact, but he hated to think of what would happen to Sky if it turned out to just be a dream.

"What harm can it do to check it out?" Z shrugged a little. "If we don't go, then we'll never know, and this is the first lead we've had to where he might be."

"Besides, I'm going whether you come or not." Sky was growing impatient.

Jack nodded. "Alright, let's go then."

Sky gave a small sigh of relief and led the way to where he hoped Bridge was. They took the S.W.A.T truck, and on the way there Syd asked what they were all thinking.

"Did you see if he's okay?"

"It was strange, kind of like a distant whisper, but he sounded weak. I don't think he's in good shape…" Sky thought about the dream.

"Did you see something else?" Jack noticed the look on the Blue Ranger's face.

"Flashes, I saw flashes of things. I saw the place he was at, and then bright lights like from his dream I think, and…"

"And what?" Z had a feeling she did not want to know.

"Blood."

Jack looked at Sky before pushing down on the pedal a little harder. They needed answers and they needed them now.

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 **AN: Thanks for reading!**


	9. Found

**Thank you Adrianna Agray, StyxxsOmega, Son of Whitebeard, and Kelli n.c for reviewing!**

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The Rangers pulled up to an old apartment building right on the edge of the city. They rushed in with their lasers out, ready for any traps that could be lying in wait. Sky led the way, although he really was not sure where he was going. It was as if something was pulling him in the right direction. They went down into the basement and there they found a door. Sky opened it and saw it led down to even more stairs. The Rangers all made their way down the rusted steps and through a long corridor. The corridor led to a wider area that was pitch black. The Rangers got out lights and shined it around. In front of them there was an open door and when they got in, they saw they were in the right place. It was hard to see, but they were in a large room and in the center towards the back was a strange contraption suspending the Green Ranger.

Sky ran up to Bridge, not shining his light on the rest of the room.

Jack followed yelling behind him. "Find some lights!" He stopped before he could reach Bridge. "Is he?"

Sky said nothing as he approached Bridge, knowing that they may have been too late.

Z began to look around until she saw a breaker on the other end of the room. She ran up to it and flipped the main switch turning on the overhead lights. Before Z could look, she heard Syd gasp.

When the lights turned on, Bridge flinched just enough to show Sky he was not dead. "He's alive!"

Sky turned to look at the others, but saw the room before him. There was shattered glass and blood all over the floor surrounding the psycho that took Bridge. Z was there now, and could not stop staring at the man. Jack bent down to check his pulse, even though he knew the result.

"He's dead."

Syd looked around the area. "How?"

Sky looked at Bridge. "I think I might know how."

Everyone stared at Bridge for a moment trying to understand what had happened there, then Jack snapped them all back.

"We need to get him down."

Z spotted a crank on the side of the structure holding Bridge. She turned it slowly until Bridge was lowered down.

"Bridge?" Sky could see his friend was still conscious.

Bridge moaned a little, but would not open his eyes.

"We're gonna get you out of here, okay." Sky looked at the strange restraints holding him, and was about to try to pull them when Syd stopped him.

"Wait!"

Sky looked at her with panicked eyes. "What?"

Syd came closer. "Look at his wrists and neck, the blood is evenly spaced…I think the restraints are attached to him."

Sky looked closer and saw that Syd was right. The wires running to each restraint seemed to be attached in the same place as where the metal was poking in his skin. Sky realized the only way to take them off was to unscrew them from Bridge.

"On the table." Bridge's voice was hoarse and quiet, but caught Sky's attention.

Sky got up and looked at the table behind them. There was a small pile of tools, one of which looked like the socket wrench needed to get Bridge undone.

"Sky should you do that?" Z was worried undoing the restraints would hurt Bridge more.

"We have to get him out of this thing, so yeah, I am." Sky's hands shook a little as he put the wrench up to the first bolt. "I'm sorry buddy."

Sky began to unscrew the metal prongs sticking into Bridge's wrist. Pained whimpers sounded from the Green Ranger, and his face scrunched up. The others watched in horror as Sky undid the bolts. He hated hurting Bridge, but it was the only way to get him out of there. There seemed to be only two bolts screwed in on each wrist and ankle. When he finished unscrewing the first one, he had to snap the latch open to release the restraint. There were two long thin prongs that screwed, along with four smaller prongs that dug into the skin; all were connected by wire. His wrist were rubbed raw, and slightly burnt from the electricity. There was a lot of blood, so Z ran to find something to cover the wounds with.

The first restraint was hard for Sky to remove, mentally more than physically. He was not sure if he could do the others, but he knew he had to. Bridge took a deep breath as if he was preparing himself for the rest. Sky too took a deep breath and set to unscrewing the next restraint. After he had finished he had to move on to his ankles which had the same mechanism as the wrists. Sky could tell the ankle restraints hurt more, which made it even harder to do. Once Sky had all four restraints off, he looked at Bridge's neck.

"Let's get him back, and then we can give him something before we take that off." Sky did not want to cause his friend anymore pain.

Jack nodded as he jumped in to help haul Bridge up. No one liked to hear the pained sounds he made under his breath. They knew from the moment they saw him, Bridge would not be able to move on his own, so the Red and Blue Rangers grabbed an arm and carried their limp comrade to the exit. Z led the way out, while Syd stayed in back just in case there were any more surprises. Once they got back to the apartment building they were able to bring Bridge outside. When the sun touched his face, Bridge gave the most movement he had since they found him by attempting to pull away from the two holding him.

When Bridge saw the light he panicked. The sun mimicked the lights he had been under for what seemed like days. He hoped he had not fantasized the demise of his captor, and the rescue he was undergoing. Bridge was waiting for the electricity to course through him again. The voices of his friends were telling him everything would be alright, and he needed to stop struggling. There was no shock, so Bridge could only believe what was happening was real. He stopped resisting and let his friends get him to the S.W.A.T truck where the lights were not as bright. A blanket was wrapped around him and he began to fall in and out of consciousness.

"It's going to be alright, Bridge." Z held the blanket on her friend while Jack began driving.

Jack called in to the base. "Kat! We found Bridge, but we need a medical team waiting for when we get there…also we need a team sent to retrieve a body. I'm sending the location."

Sky looked at Jack before checking on Bridge. He hated seeing Bridge in such a vulnerable state. The Green Ranger was weak and covered in blood. Sky tried to stop thinking about what he had been through, but every mark was telling him part of the story. Once they got to base, they rushed Bridge inside to meet the medical team waiting. Dr. Felix spoke to the Rangers as the others took Bridge to the Med Bay.

"If one of you would like to come to fill me in…" He said as he began to move towards the infirmary.

"I'll go." Sky did not let the others get a chance to answer, but they all knew it should be Sky to go. He was the one Bridge contacted, and he was the one who took off the restraints with the socket wrench that now lay inside his pocket.

Sky followed the doctor to where the medical team had taken Bridge.

"We found him restrained to some contraption he was using to electrocute him on, I think at least. There were wires hooked up to cuffs on his wrists and ankles. I had to take them off to get him out, but it's digging in his skin, so I left the one on his neck, but we tried to cover the wounds with what we could find." Sky was flustered now, trying focus enough to give the doctor the information he needed.

Dr. Felix ordered someone to start and IV drip with fluids and a sedative. He began unwrap the cloth the Rangers had put on Bridge's wrists. He directed his team to begin cleaning and redressing the wounds.

"Here." Sky handed Dr. Felix the socket wrench. "You'll need this to get the two screws i-in his skin to get that collar off."

Dr. Felix nodded and set to take off the collar. "Is there anything else of importance I should know?"

Sky's mind went to the dead man on the floor of that place. The man he was certain Bridge was responsible for killing, but that was not the doctor's concern. "No, I don't think so."

"Thank you cadet, I think we can take it from here."

Sky nodded and left to let Dr. Felix get to fixing Bridge. Physically, Sky knew Dr. Felix would do a fine job with making Bridge better, but mentally Sky knew only time would tell. He had no idea what the mental state of his friend was after everything that had happened. He just hoped in time he would be alright. As he walked out of the infirmary he made his way to the Command Center where the team was filling in Commander Crueger on everything that had happened. Jack was almost finished relaying the story when Sky walked in. All the Rangers looked at him with hopes of news.

"Dr. Felix is working on Bridge, I'm not sure how he is yet."

Doggie could see the worried looks in his cadets' eyes. "Not to worry Rangers, Bridge is in good hands. He just needs time to heal. You have all done excellent work today and should rest for a while. As soon as Dr. Felix has updates, you'll be the first to know."

"Yes, Sir." Jack and the others saluted and made their way to the Rec-Room. No one wanted to be too far apart incase anything happened with their friend.

It was not until three hours later Dr. Felix came down to talk to the Rangers with Crueger and Kat by his side. When the Rangers saw him, they all jumped up worried about the fate of the Green Ranger. Everyone waited for the Doctor to speak.

"Cadet Carson is very strong, while he's been through a lot I believe he will recover from his injuries. He was extremely dehydrated, so we'll keep on a fluid IV for a couple of days. Some side effects from the electrocution are showing themselves; he's having small muscle spasms, but nothing to draw too much concern. When I checked for concussion however, I discovered his sensitivity to light. He was partially awake, and when I shined my pen light in his eye he began to struggle."

Sky remembered the shattered flood lights in the room.

"Is he awake?" Z hoped they could see him.

"We had to sedate him again, so not right now, but he will be soon."

"Thank you Doctor." Crueger bowed to him.

One by one, each Ranger took turns sitting with Bridge. All of them thought the same thing; seeing Bridge in such a state of vulnerability was hard. They hated looking at this quiet beaten Bridge. All they wanted was the carefree, funny Bridge that was always there for them. Each Ranger also worried about what Bridge would be like when he woke up. Would he still be him? Or had his time in captivity changed him forever? They hated to think the ladder, but that was a high possibility. All they could do was wait for the Green Ranger to wake up so they could see for themselves how Bridge would respond since his kidnapping.

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 **AN: Thanks for reading, only one more chapter left!**


	10. Recovery

**Special thanks for** **Adrianna Agray** **for reviewing every chapter! Also thank you to StyxxsOmega, KnightLawn, and Son of Whitebeard for reviewing!**

 **Last chapter!**

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The first time Bridge woke up since they brought him back to the base was with Jack. He began to stir for a moment, but then began to panic. Jack sprung up to calm him down, but Bridge was not having it. The lights in the room were enough to send Bridge right back to where he was, he tried to pull out his IV and other wires attached to him. Jack had to call for help, and when the nurse came in, Bridge had to be sedated again. Jack's experience was enough to scare Syd away, not able to cope with the sight of a terrified and weak Bridge. The longer Z stayed the madder she got at the man that did this to him, and Sky looked stoic on the outside, but felt guilty inside. All he had to do was find Bridge faster and maybe then he would have been alright, but the way things were looking now seemed like they were only going on a steady decline.

That was how it remained for a while. Bridge would wake up in a panic, he would have to be sedated, and hope of getting him back seemed further out of reach. They all had learned to keep the lights off, only leaving a few dim ones at the end of the room. That helped the next time he awoke. It was not until three days after he had gotten there, that Bridge finally woke up knowing where he was and what was going on. It was Boom this time that was sitting with him. He himself was falling asleep when he happened to look up and notice Bridge was staring at the ceiling. Boom stumbled out of his chair and went straight to the Green Ranger's side.

"Hey, you're awake."

Bridge said nothing yet, still adjusting to being conscious.

"Everyone's been really worried, we've all been taking turns sitting with you…I-I should go get a doctor and tell the others, I'll be back!"

After Dr. Felix came to check on Bridge, the Rangers came into the room. Although the room was dark, the others could see the small smile that brushed across Bridge's face. They all huddled in, relieved to see the Green Ranger awake.

"You guys saved me, thanks." Bridge's voice was quiet and hoarse.

"Sky got your message, without it, we wouldn't have." Z smiled a little.

"You had us really worried, Bridge." Jack was relieved to finally see his friend talking.

"Yeah, it's great to see you awake finally." Syd nodded in agreement.

Sky could not find the right words to say. The guilt of what happened to Bridge was growing. All he could do was stand there in silence, angry at the person that put him there.

"I think it's time we let Mr. Carson get some more rest." Dr. Felix could see the ware on the Ranger's face.

The team nodded and made their way out of the room, leaving Bridge to get some more sleep. The next time Bridge woke up, Dr. Felix was there checking him over.

"How much pain are you in, son?"

"Medicine is helping. Head hurts, well everything hurts, but nothing unmanageable. How bad of shape am I in?"

"You have some minor nerve damage to all four limbs, but nothing a little physical therapy won't take care of. Your bandages have a skin growth gel in them, so the scarring should be minimal, but you will feel a little tingly as the skin grows back. I'm most concerned about your sensitivity to light. Your retinas show no sign of damage…" Dr. Felix eyed him.

"No, my eyes were shut most of the time…I just need time to adjust."

Dr. Felix nodded, knowing that was all Bridge was going to say about that. Over the next two days Bridge's medication was lessened and the physical therapist came to begin minor exercises to help his nerves. No one else had come to see him since he had first woken up. They were all there when he was unconscious, but Bridge knew exactly why no one wanted to see him when he was awake, that was until Sky knocked on his door.

When Sky entered the room, Bridge was sitting on his bed in the dark. "Sky, hey."

Sky shut the door behind him. "How'd you know it was me?"

"Your aura. You can turn the lamp on in the corner."

Sky fumbled his way in the door until he reached the lamp in the corner of the room. A dim light spread across just enough for Sky to see Bridge. Sky noticed Bridge had his gloves on.

"I thought your gloves prevented you from seeing auras." He sat down in the chair next to Bridge's bed.

"Not always, my instincts are still in control."

Sky was not sure how to start the conversation he needed to have. "So I heard they are releasing you tomorrow."

Bridge nodded. "Yeah…"

"But, you don't want to leave yet?"

"I do, but…Sky you're the only person to come see me since I woke up. No one else can face me."

Sky felt more guilt well up; he too had avoided Bridge until now. "I'm sure that's not it."

"They're scared of me, they think I might snap or something."

"Then you remember everything?" Sky chose his words carefully.

"Every second." Bridge met his eyes. "I know what I did to him."

"You didn't have a choice, Bridge."

Bridge looked away. "That's just it, there's always a choice…I just wanted it to end, he wanted me to suffer because I ruined all of his plans, so he kept torturing me over and over again. He wouldn't let me sleep…I couldn't open my eyes because the lights were so bright, I needed it to stop."

"No one blames you for what happened, you did what you had to." Sky hated seeing the torment in his eyes.

"That's not what everyone else thinks. They saw him lying on the ground like that, you all know how I did it, and that terrifies you." Before Sky could argue Bridge gave him a warning look. "I can hear all of you, what you're thinking, so don't think you can lie to me and tell me I'm not right. Everyone in the whole academy knows that I got taken and now someone is dead, you can imagine the rumors flying around. Some are going to make great Rangers someday, because they've worked it out."

Sky stared at his friend in wonder. "How could you possibly know all that when you haven't even left this room?"

"Haven't been able to block anything out since I got back. I've just been sitting in the dark listening to everyone. I know I shouldn't, but I can't help it right now. You should hear what they think, what the others think, what I think…"

"What do you think, Bridge?"

"I think I called you for help. I think I knew I could do that before I…before I got into his head. Before I dismantled his mind from the inside. I think I wanted him to suffer like I was suffering. I think I wanted him dead, because he was right about some things. The system is flawed, he would have been arrested and then what? What good would that have done? Now he can never hurt anyone again…I guess besides me."

"Bridge, it's okay to be angry at him, it's okay to want him dead for what he did, but you aren't like him. You're a good person."

"Edward Wiesel, that was his name. To destroy his mind, I had to see it…all of it. Every bad thought and plan, and execution he ever carried out. And now his thoughts are in my head, and they will always be in my head."

"Then they need to be a reminder of what you aren't. You aren't that monster, you went through something terrible, but it's over and no matter how hard it may be, you have to forget him, because you survived and he didn't." Sky was not sure if what he said was helping.

"I need you to promise me something, Sky."

"What?"

"If I start to change, if I begin to act different or do things that you don't think I would do. That you'll do whatever you have to, to stop me."

"What are you talking about?"

"His thoughts are jumbled in with my thoughts. There are things he said that make sense now, that didn't before, and that may get stronger. I may change from this, and with my abilities growing like they are…" Bridge laughed a little. "He showed me how strong I was, in fact he's the one that helped me unlock parts of my powers I didn't think I could access. I'm dangerous, and I want to be me, but there's a chance I won't be for awhile. So you need to promise you'll do what you have to."

Sky shook his head. "Bridge, we won't let that happen. You are a part of the team, and you always will be. We protect one another, and nothing will change that. It may take some time, but you'll get better, you feel like you again, you just have to keep fighting."

Bridge nodded.

"You should get some rest Bridge." Sky got up and turned off the lamp before exiting the room.

Sky then made his way down the hall in search of the others. He found them in the cafeteria, so he sat down at their table.

"I just talked to Bridge."

"How is he?" Z was the first to ask, but the concern showed in all their faces.

"A little upset no one has gone to see him. He's been listening to everyone actually, and it seems everyone's thoughts are the same. We're all scared of what happened. Scared of what he can do now."

The team looked down at their food, knowing Sky's words were true.

"I think he's scared too." Sky took a breath. "Bridge killed someone, we'll all have to accept that, just like he does, and justified or not how it happened is what terrifies us all. We didn't know he could do that, I'm not sure he did before then. He needs us, all of us, now more than ever. So it may be awkward and weird for a while, but we're his friends, so we need to act like it."

The others nodded knowing they needed to push away their own troubles and be strong for Bridge. No one wanted to talk about what happened, and none of them wanted to see Bridge in any bad state, but Sky was right, they needed to be there for their teammate.

The next day before Bridge was to be released, the Rangers made their way to his room. He had been unhooked from his IV and was under short observation to make sure he was good to leave without the drip of medication. When the Rangers entered the dimly lit room, Bridge seemed surprised to see all of them.

"We wanted to apologize for not coming sooner, Sky told us we needed to get over ourselves and remember that you need to us to be here no matter what we're thinking." Jack smiled at him.

"And to show you how sorry we are, we brought you this." Syd moved over to reveal a large plate of toast.

Bridge smiled at the food before him.

"We also brought you these." Z handed him a pair of sunglasses. "We know the light has been bothering you, so we thought these might help."

"Thanks everyone. I know it's hard right now for all of us. I know you feel guilty for what happened to me, but it's not any of your faults. And yeah, there are powers that I have I didn't exactly know about, but it's a part of me now, and I'll adapt to them."

"But you don't have to go through this alone, Bridge." Sky stepped closer.

"Yeah, we're here for you, for anything that you need." Jack nodded.

"If you ever need to talk about anything that happened, we're here." Z smiled.

"We'll always be here for you Bridgey, we're a team, and your friends, and friends always help each other whenever they need it." Syd handed him the toast.

"I appreciate that everyone, now does anyone else want some toast? It looks buttery." Bridge smiled and dug in to the toast.

For once he was not sure what the future had in store for him, but right now he was focused on getting through the past. His friends were now there for him, and that was all he needed. He would get through this, because that is what he had to do, and he knew his friends would be there for him every step of the way.

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 **AN: The End! I was thinking about doing a sequel to this, so let me know if that is something you all would want to read! Thank you all so much for reading!**


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